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"...as it finished, a stunned silence descended for several seconds before the mad scramble to the demo pods. It is simply breath-taking. "
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Faced with the legacy of the popular Metroid Prime trilogy, it was a bold move for Nintendo to take the franchise in a different direction. Teaming up with developers Team Ninja (of Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive fame), the title really feels like a fresh look at the series. From our play-through of the opening stages, Other M manages to successfully mix the best of the old 2D Metroid titles with additions from the Prime era, and a whole new set of enhancements to boot.
The beginning of the game pulls no punches. Its opening cinematic is a jaw-droppingly stunning CG rendition of the closing moments of 1994 SNES title Super Metroid (as Samus defeats the evil Mother Brain and destroys all Metroids in the galaxy once and for all). We watched this on a big screen with a dozen other journalists, and as it finished, a stunned silence descended for several seconds before the mad scramble to the demo pods. It is simply breath-taking.
We were handed a Wii Remote and allowed to play the game "the way it was meant to be played": in a darkened room, barely two feet away from the screen and with headphones immersing us into some one-on-one time with Samus.
Holding the Wii-mote horizontally (no Motion Plus, no Nunchuck even) is not what we were expecting, but it works. The game's intuitive enough to know where you're going using D-pad controls, 1 and 2 to Fire and Jump, with A to turn into the Morph Ball. Gameplay is mostly third-person, but you can change into first-person any time by pointing your Wii-mote at the screen. From here you can lock on by holding down B - necessary for locking in on targets for missiles and other items you might want to look at closer.
Once again, gameplay starts with your abilities nobbled. This time around as you're technically working as part of a Galactic Federation team, you get abilities authorised for use as the situation gradually grows increasingly more dire. From the start though you get Morph Ball bombs, beam shots, and the Kick Jump (taking the place of the Screw Attack for vertical wall-jumping).
Samus will automatically target nearby enemies, so its a simple case of shooting (or charging and then firing if you prefer) for easy enemies. When you're low on health, you can "Focus" by holding the Wii-mote vertically up, which restores health and missile ammo. No more health pick-ups! Extra energy tanks and missile expansions are still available to find, however.
Also, notably, no more scanning either. You can still gaze around your environment, but this is only really necessary when confronted with a few pieces of scenery needing closer inspection to continue. With this removed - and Samus sprinting around the screen faster than ever - the game's pace livens up considerably, and you can find yourself racing around numerous areas, gleefully blasting the living daylights out of those around you with ease.
The only time the game does slow down the pace is when you're taken into cut-scenes, which are fairly frequent, at least in these initial stages. After being patched up after the Mother Brain incident, Samus picks up a distress signal on a remote, deserted vessel. The crew are dead, presumed lunch for creature(s) unknown. There, Samus finds a Galactic Federation team who are on the same trail, led by General Adam Malkovich, who could be seen in the E3 trailer and has some undisclosed personal history with Samus.
From what we've learnt about the game as a whole, Samus' backstory is being fully fleshed out here. The whole game itself is narrated by her, the cut-scenes feeling like memories she's recalling and commenting on. The storyline is very intriguing, even if the dialogue can sometimes get a little cheesy.
We managed to reach the first boss in the game, a rather disturbing giant eye-beetle (it's literally an eyeball in shell form, with legs - brrr) which summons its smaller purple buddies to work together and create one giant mass. The beetle attacks Samus and the Federation soldiers by whipping its tentacles around, packing one hell of a punch. Of course, the eye-beetle's eye is the weak spot, and delivering some massive damage with a well-placed missile allows your comrades to freeze the bugger, leaving it paralysed and begging to be shattered by Samus. It's a typical case of "repeat two more times to kill it", but we enjoyed. It was, however, odd to see Samus working with other fighters for once, as Metroid's always been a bit of a solitary affair.
Looks-wise, the FMV cut-scenes are without rival on the Wii, bar none. They truly are beautiful, and we'd happily watch a CG Metroid movie of the like all day. This however does unfortunately highlight the fact that the main in-game graphics aren't the best of the Wii. They're not bad, but they have room for improvement. It should be noted that all the versions we were playing had a notice at the beginning reminding us that this was just an early build, and that graphics and sound were liable to change.
Other M is being billed as a "cinematic action game", and as such feels suitably epic. In addition to the story-heavy cutscenes, the camera is constantly on the move, breaking the mould by refusing to be fixed to one perspective. We located a set of toilet cubicles in the demo, and the action switched to an over-the-shoulder perspective, similar to Resident Evil 4, allowing us a tiny bit of more intimate exploration. Running down a wide corridor infested with extraterrestrial beasties, the camera swung back to follow Samus from a slightly skewed angle. It's clear that Team Ninja and Nintendo are looking at Other M with a cinematic eye, and the seamless transition between perspectives makes the experience feel very natural.
The most important thing for us though was how easily we grew accustomed to the new controls, the new style of story-driven gameplay, and the fresh new feel that Metroid: Other M brings to the series. It is shaping up to be something really special - we cannot wait to play more.
[More on Metroid: Other M]
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